Double murder: Court convicts man, citing complete circumstantial evidence

NEW DELHI: A court here has convicted a man for murdering a 92-year-old man and his 64-year-old daughter-in-law during a robbery bid in June 2015, saying the entire chain of circumstantial evidence was complete and that the Delhi Police had duly proved the charges.

Additional Sessions Judge Shefali Barnala Tandon was hearing a case against the accused Deepanshu, who was accused of murdering Sewa Ram Kataria and Shashi Kataria by inflicting grievous injuries upon them with a

pair of scissors at their house in East Patel Nagar on June 14, 2015.

According to the prosecution, the accused was a first year college student in Uttar Pradesh and had come to the national capital during the summer vacations.

Deepanshu’s father used to clean cars in the area and as the accused sometimes used to assist his father, he was known to the deceased’s family, it said.

“In the present case, the prosecution has been able to prove the complicity of accused Deepanshu in the commission of crime beyond the shadow of all reasonable doubts,” the court said.

“All the circumstances established are consistent only with the hypothesis of the guilt of the accused and the entire chain of circumstantial evidence is complete in all respects,” it said in a judgment dated April 30.

The court noted various aspects of the case, including robbery being the motive of the crime, evidence regarding the accused’s presence at the spot, accessibility of the accused in the house of the deceased and his conduct after the crime.

“Thus, keeping in view the forensic evidence, the medical evidence, the recovery of robbed articles at the instance of the accused, the scene

of the crime report, the photographs of spot, the medico-legal case (MLC) and postmortem reports. It is held that the prosecution has been able to complete the chain of circumstances,” the court said in its 117-page order. 

The court convicted the accused under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 302 (murder) and 397 (Robbery, or dacoity, with attempt

to cause death or grievous hurt).

The court has posted the matter for hearing the arguments on sentencing on a later date.